So she is done for the season. Apparently she is not retiring though so her fans can still hope for 2014.

She's smart not to risk deeper and long lasting if not permanent injury. Hopefully with the proper rest and treatment she will be back. In the meantime, she can get on with her schooling if she so desires.

Somehow I never fully saw her coming back. Poor girl. Every since she made a move specifically for her skating she has had nothing but injury and setback. I don't see her continuing skating if the pain is chronic and the fact that she will miss out on the olympic chance. Well she had a great moment of glory...she is lucky that the judges were fair that year at worlds unlike they often are to young skaters.

What a pity! I don't see her coming back from an injury with this kind of timing, though one never knows. I will always remember her sunny nature and those lovely triple triples at a time when no other American ladies were able to step up to the plate for us.

I'm so glad she has that World championship! She'll always keep that place in skating history, just as Naomi Nari Nam will always have that National silver medal.

Kimmie Meissner stated herself on her twitter page that she's only out for the season. I, for one, believe her.

There are literally many many examples of skaters coming back from injury to compete, no matter the age, it's par for the course. Some examples:

1. Fumie Suguri's been known to have knee problems herself over the years & is still competing at age 28 (will be 29 in December)!

2. Shizuka Arakawa won the 2006 Olympics at age 25, not to mention she had struggled with a foot injury two years prior.

3. Sasha Cohen had to sit out a season when she was younger due to a back/spinal injury, and she's still competing at age 25.

4. Michelle Kwan missed the entire 1997 GP due to a fracture to her foot (had to wear a cast), yet she came back to win the silver medal at both the 1998 Olympics & the bronze medal at the 2002 Olympics.

5. Irina Slutskaya struggled with injuries herself throughout her career, most notably her heart condition just prior to winning the bronze medal at the 2006 Olympics at age 27!

6. Maria Butyrskaya had a history of ups & downs throughout her loooong career, but yet managed to become the oldest lady to win the 1999 Worlds at age 26, as well as the oldest lady to win the 2002 Europeans at age 29!

And the list goes on & on & on... You get my point, lol. :D

Kimmie Meissner is a World Champion & a National Champion at only 20 yrs. old! And she has the distinction of being only the 2nd American female to have landed the 3Axel in competition. Heck, she's got plenty of time to come back. In fact, I think this will be good for her, time to sit out & recoup, heal her knee, and slowly come back stronger than ever before! Seriously. It's all up to her. She's got the goods, the mindset, everything she needs. I wouldn't be surprised to see her pull a Shizuka Arakawa at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

Sadly this reminds me a great deal of what happened to Jill Trennary. She was certainly young enough to try to compete again in the 94 games, but she had missed so much time due to injury and was falling behind her competition technically a little more each season when she was healthy. She tried gamely to qualify for nationals in the fall of 91, but did not skate well. I think she saw the writing on the wall and made the calculation to cut her losses and move on.

I'm not saying this is the conclusion Kimmie has come to, just pointing out the similarities.

I think the difference between her and the past champions mentioned above is that her technique has not held up in the face of a change in the technical standard of the sport. Trennary won the last worlds with figures (her strength). Kimmie won the last worlds before underrotations became the greatest of sins.

Butyrskaya and Suguri are the closest comparisons in that regard. Suguri has competed ably in the middle rung of skaters not really competing for medals at big events. But she essentially does only three different triples at this stage, a major disadvantage. At this point, she's really competing for the love of the sport. Butyrskaya (whom I loved) peaked at just the right time when Kwan and Slutskaya was vulnerable, then essentially lost ground gradually the last three years of her career as triple-triples became a must to win.

I fear that Kimmie falls squarely in that category. Trennary won her world title under circumstances similar to Butyrskaya and Kimmie (although they had the skates of their lives). She's a tough, delightful person who deserves better than the lot in life she's had. I just think the current system works against her strengths.

Hmm

I really hope this isn't Kimmie's end. Just going back and watching the fluffs of her, like in 2008 about her being the "American angel trying to get her wings back", as well as being in Sasha's shadow and winning, make her seem so special and so different from every other skater. She was so real, so truly American. I've loved every single one of her worlds long programs, and even though 2008 wasn't perfect, she put so much emotion into that program.

Hopefully she keeps her head up, maybe takes a break from competitive skating, and learn to love skating all over again, almost as Sasha seems to have done.

Kimmie: Great but not really that great.

Kimmie is a great skater and a nice girl but I doubt she could stand up to Mao, YuNa, Shasha or Miki. She may even be relieved that she bowed out of the Gd Prix events. Frankly I don't think she was ever in their class. That 2006 Worlds title was a post Oly where the best opted out and Fumie was arguably the winner but for a last minute jump sequence by Kimmie. Kimmie has home team popularity which can cloud objective opinion especially when the US is in dire need of a young Michelle Kwan back on the ice.

Kimmie is a great skater and a nice girl but I doubt she could stand up to Mao, YuNa, Shasha or Miki. She may even be relieved that she bowed out of the Gd Prix events. Frankly I don't think she was ever in their class. That 2006 Worlds title was a post Oly where the best opted out and Fumie was arguably the winner but for a last minute jump sequence by Kimmie. Kimmie has home team popularity which can cloud objective opinion especially when the US is in dire need of a young Michelle Kwan back on the ice.

Kimmie Meissner stated herself on her twitter page that she's only out for the season. I, for one, believe her.

There are literally many many examples of skaters coming back from injury to compete, no matter the age, it's par for the course.

I assume she won't ever make a complete comeback mostly because of one word, "recurring." This is not some freak injury or a overtraining thing. She speaks as though she has been healing with this for some time, combined with the hip problem that caused her to drop out of nationals and the fact that she was not in perfect form for a year before even that make me doubt that she will want to continue with the sport (after all she does have a national title and a world title, more than sasha cohen ever got after 6 senior seasons) and persue her other dreams.

Very sad news... I was looking forward to see her compete at the GP. Question; is it still possible to find replacement for the events? Will it be a US skater or someone else? Who's decision is it anyway?

Kimmie Meissner stated herself on her twitter page that she's only out for the season. I, for one, believe her.

There are literally many many examples of skaters coming back from injury to compete, no matter the age, it's par for the course. Some examples:

1. Fumie Suguri's been known to have knee problems herself over the years & is still competing at age 28 (will be 29 in December)!

2. Shizuka Arakawa won the 2006 Olympics at age 25, not to mention she had struggled with a foot injury two years prior.

3. Sasha Cohen had to sit out a season when she was younger due to a back/spinal injury, and she's still competing at age 25.

4. Michelle Kwan missed the entire 1997 GP due to a fracture to her foot (had to wear a cast), yet she came back to win the silver medal at both the 1998 Olympics & the bronze medal at the 2002 Olympics.

5. Irina Slutskaya struggled with injuries herself throughout her career, most notably her heart condition just prior to winning the bronze medal at the 2006 Olympics at age 27!

6. Maria Butyrskaya had a history of ups & downs throughout her loooong career, but yet managed to become the oldest lady to win the 1999 Worlds at age 26, as well as the oldest lady to win the 2002 Europeans at age 29!

And the list goes on & on & on... You get my point, lol. :D

Kimmie Meissner is a World Champion & a National Champion at only 20 yrs. old! And she has the distinction of being only the 2nd American female to have landed the 3Axel in competition. Heck, she's got plenty of time to come back. In fact, I think this will be good for her, time to sit out & recoup, heal her knee, and slowly come back stronger than ever before! Seriously. It's all up to her. She's got the goods, the mindset, everything she needs. I wouldn't be surprised to see her pull a Shizuka Arakawa at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

For goodness sake nobody's died!! She has a knee injury that prevents her from competing in the GP which has it's own knock on effect of not excusing her from regionals etc so she's out for one season not dead!